Eastern prairie fringed-orchid COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 11

Special Significance of the Species

Research on the biology of this species could be illuminating with respect to the field of disturbance ecology and may provide information that could be applied to a large number of rare species of wet mesic prairies and fens. This species is one of the most spectacular and popular North American wild orchids (e.g. Pridgeon 1989) and has a very high profile in the United States, where it is listed as federally threatened (Harrison 1989).

No Aboriginal uses for this plant have been found in the literature but several other species in the genus are known to have been used for medicinal purposes (Native American Ethnobotany web site, as of June 2003).

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